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New INEGI data: 31,174 homicides in 2017… highest in 30+ years

The official Mexican statistical agency, INEGI, released new data today with the preliminary figure of 31,174 homicides in 2017. This is also an increase over the estimate of 29,000+ for 2017 that was reported earlier by another agency, the SESNSP. Both of these are official numbers, however, they come from different data sources. SESNSP compiles data as reported by state prosecutors (Fiscalias) and is described as the number of victims of crimes, including homicide. The information comes from homicide investigation case files. Those figures are updated monthly. See:

INEGI compiles data from forensic medical services (morgues) in every jurisdiction in the country from death certificates in which homicide is designated as the cause of death. INEGI also gathers data from death certificates filed with Civil Registries. The INEGI data is generally considered the most accurate and verifiable.The new INEGI data is reported here:

The MURDER RATE (# of homicides per 100,000 people) is used to compare homicide statistics between places with different populations. The new INEGI data shows a 2017 national murder rate of 25, significantly higher than the rate of 20 reported in 2016. In fact, the raw numbers of 31,174 homicides and the rate of 25 per 100,000 are higher than in any year for which data is available in Mexico.

The previous high point was 2011, after four years of the militarized “war on drugs” set in motion during the Calderon administration. In 2011, there were 27,213 homicides and a murder rate of 24. For comparison, the US murder rate is about 5. Several other Latin American countries have much higher homicide rates than Mexico. See the table posted below from the Igarape Institute for more comparative data.

The table below includes updates from the INEGI report for 2017 and the SESNSP monthly reports for 2018. Basically, we are looking at more than 256,000 murder victims from 2007 through June 2018 in Mexico.